Has anybody ever recorded a classical symphony

there is a REALLY interesting question here that goes to the root of how classical music works, as to how multi- recording syncs up simultaneity (which is practically speaking achievable in the digital studio, but NOT in the real life concert-hall: so should the typical discrepancy be faked?)

it is stave-music's equivalent, rhythm-wise, of the so-called PYTHAGOREAN COMMA in well-tempering

Heh...

"Bink!"

(thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud)

"Plonk."

(trot-trot-trot-trot)

"Ba-da-deeeee?"

(sprint-sprint-sprint-sprint)

(labored breathing)

"Ka-ronk!"

(etc.)

Coz I am working on a symphony right now. I have the basic themes for all three movements; I've fleshed out the latter two, but I'm still not sure of the first movement.

I'm writing it in Reason (oh, all you haterz who thought it was only for bad trance) coz their Orkester samples are not awful.

A couple of questions about symphonies, that I wonder if anyone knows the answers to:

1) Do the movements of symphonies have to all be in the same key? People always talk about "The Symphony in D minor" and the like. Is this just convention, or is it an inherent part of the symphonic ideal? Are keychanges verboten in symphonies? how about even if it's just major/minor switching?

2) Symphonies are allowed to have chorale bits, right? It only becomes an opera if there is actually a plot and libretto, right?

3) How long should a symphony be? I mean, obviously, it needs to be long enough to develop your theme. But is there a limit to shortness and longness? (Like, for example, in pop, a single cannot be over 3 songs.)

I would really appreciate some guidance or advice or links, because my classical musical education was a *long* time ago, and I can't remember much of it.

symphony - a work for orchestra usually consisting of three or, more commonly, four separate movements in contrasting tempos. The opening movement is almost always fast and in sonata-allegro form.

It doesn't say anything about keychanges, but it says that it has to have different tempos. That's good. My tempos vary from 102bpm to 115 bmp for each movement.

I'm disappointed in ILM today. Not nearly as useful as Google.

Serious answer, because I was classically trained as a child, and perhaps that is coming out now. I've been listening to a lot of "classical" music lately, from the seriously old (early Baroque) to more recent (Philip Glass and John Tavener) and I'm intrigued by the way that overwhelming emotion can shine through the apparently rigourous structure of the symphony.

A few months ago, I was writing a pretty standard pop song, and I wanted an instrumental break. I was bored with just sticking in guitar solos wherever I wanted an instrumental break, so almost as a joke or an experiment, I stuck in a brief (eight bar) symphonic fantasia on the main musical riff or "theme" of the song. (Yes, that is the most prog thing in the world to do, but it wasn't a prog song at all.)

I was intrigued by the way that it sounded, but also entranced by the enjoyment of the sheer mechanics of it - melody and counterpoint and harmony in a way that you don't often think about in rock/pop music.

I've been working on a few short pieces, three to five minutes, with classical instrumentation. I just thought it would be interesting to develop the themes in a longer setting, and also, it would be a good exercise to see if I could stick to the *form* of a symphony.

My god, this is more complicated than I ever realised. I really feel a challenge. It's not just verse, chorus, verse, chorus middle 8, keychange, double chorus, like it is in pop. There's all Exposition, Development and Recapitulation, with lots of groups and transitions and codettas and stuff... wow.

And apparently, there's actually lots of modulation in the sonata form - i.e. if your piece is major, it is acceptible to go up to a key a fifth above (since my symphony is in G, I can go up to D, which is nice) or if it's minor, it's acceptible to do a bit in the relative major. So that answers my keychange question.

I'm really wondering what to do for the 3/4 bit. I mean, the only way to do that without mincing is to do a sea-shanty (not sure if that's appropriate) or else spend a lot of time listening to Sibelius to work it out. :-(

I like the sound of a scherzo even less than a minuet.

x-post... Carnegie Hall is unlikely (unless I can pull the family connections to get in there) - if I can finish the thing and get it played on Resonance FM, that's about as much as I hope to achieve.

I'm sure, once it's written, that at least one of the programmes I'm using (possibly Cubase, even if Reason can't do it) can translate a MIDI score into musical notation. At that point, I can apply for the Arse Council grant to get an actual orchestra together and maybe get the Opera Babes or someone to sing it... but right now, I'm staying small.